Social policy, social exclusion and commodity fetishism

This article provides a political economy of social policy and its current emphasis on social inclusion/exclusion. It considers this in terms of three interrelated processes: the rise in a population surplus to capital; the rejuvenation of a reserve army of labour power; and the decline of the commodity form of labour power. On the basis of a critical examination of the work of Bauman (1998) and Byrne (1999), the article begins by looking at the way social exclusion/inclusion is understood in terms of a reserve army of labour and/or surplus population. The second part of the article demonstrates the relevance of Marx's concept of commodity fetishism to a more fundamental understanding of the implications of a society in which labour power is becoming increasingly surplus to capital".